Quote Originally Posted by Eerie View Post
Mau I point you to another idea of mine: Monster Ghetto.
I guess I'm a little late (6 months) to say so, but I like it.

On the topic of this thread, I think I like the idea that the Obelisks (originally to guard the Empire's border) protected the people from a worldwide disaster, rather than the Obelisks or a Residuum chain reaction being the disaster.

Remember that the culture that has grown up around the Obelisks in the post-apocalyptic setting would be started by the kinds of people who would have lived near the Empire's borders before. Mostly pioneering farmers and adventurers (some of them criminals), with a few soldiers too.

I'm in favor of the Obelisks still having some kind of anti-magic powers remaining. It will be difficult to make sure spellcasting PCs aren't too weak for parts of the campaign, but IMHO it's worth it because it makes the setting so distinctive. I've never before heard of an otherwise high-magic (i.e., normal D&D levels) world, where large areas of important locations were in Antimagic Fields. That would certainly prevent an Eberron-esque "magic as technology" society from springing up! And it would give spellcasters, including PCs, a strong motivation to get out of civilized lands and adventure (and to be careful to avoid violent conflict when they do have to go into the Obelisk-centered communities).

In fact, I really like the idea that the few arcane academies and temples that have been (re-)founded since the Cataclysm would have to be founded outside the "safe zone." They would have to be veritable fortresses, constantly on the defense against the monsters that now roam these territories. And the casters' isolationist tendency could further explain the normal people's distrust of magic.

Maybe, in some communities, the spellcasters have even managed to conceal the fact that they can't do magic near the Obelisks. So they are under a constant quest to keep that a secret and intimidate everyone into thinking they are mighty casters with no weaknesses. I would love to see a tyrant Warlock who rules his town solely on the basis of his arcane might ... but has to hide the fact that he has to leave town to use any of his magic power.